James Hoffman tries 36 different Nespresso capsules

Ethiopia

Intensity 33.3%

You can taste it is a natural process; little roasty, most interesting, but far from how good Ethiopian coffees can be

Zimbabwe

Intensity 41.7%

Good weird, smells of berries, blackberries, leaves of berry plants, vegetal, planty, late in the game acidity, soury

Colombia

Intensity 50.0%

Up front roast followed by fruit acid, roastiness is present but not dominant, tastes of somewhere

Shanghai Lungo

Intensity 38.5%

A lot of flavors, not overly roasty, berries, weird blend, more interesting than 80% of the other capsules tested

Tokyo Envivo Lungo

Intensity 46.2%

Not superbly characterful, has an opinion

Scuro

Weird, stale berry flavored cereal

Vienna Linizio Lungo

Intensity 46.2%

Super generic start, brief moment of complexity/characterfullness, aiming to be inoffensive

Corto

Woody, spicy, earthy, roasty, little bitter, no acidity, heavy heavy thing

Millennio

Intensity 61.5%

Cereal, little fruit, linear, not particularly sweet, disappointing, can't tell what each component is doing

Napoli

Intensity 100%

Lots of texture, smellable from a distance, potent, heaps of roast, dominantly bitter, some flavor, woody, earthy, slightly rubbery, old school robusta

Nicaragua

Intensity 41.7%

Fermented black honey, roasty over the top

Ristretto

Intensity 76.9%

Better than caffeinated version, more acidity and complexity

Capriccio

Intensity 41.7%

Slightly burnt, exceedingly bland granola

Cosi

Intensity 33.3%

Medium to dark developed roast; cereally, higher altitude than Chiaro

Firenze Arpeggio

Intensity 69.2%

Brews slow, chocolately, tons of roast, very similar to Venezia

Firenze Arpeggio

Intensity 69.2%

Woodier version of caffeinated capsule, not very interesting or complex, very thick and heavy, classic

Palermo

Intensity 92.3%

Least favorite capsule tested, hugely bitter, very dark, lingering, brutal, a lot of what people expect cheap coffee to taste like, traditional, commoditized cheap experience

Uganda

Intensity 66.7%

No floral characteristics, roasty, bitter, texture but no acidity or complexity, Uganda can produce better coffees

Venezia

Intensity 61.5%

Pretty dominant roast, not much caramel, generic, dark roast, very similar to Firenze Arpeggio

Volluto

Intensity 33.3%

Not defective, just not complex or interesting, a bit biscuity and a bit roasty

Volluto

Intensity 33.3%

Absolutely no aroma, very similar to caffeinated version, a bit biscuity and a bit roasty

Chiaro

Not particularly dark, lower altitude, generic, no fruit

DRC

Intensity 58.3%

Cereally roast, no character, could be from anywhere

Ristretto

Intensity 76.9%

Magically bizarre, big roast, tons of texture, fluffy and moussey, bitter aftertaste, not mouth coating, weird textural experience

Roma

Intensity 61.5%

Incredibly characterless espresso, no finess, linear coffeeness, not necessarily flawed, no complexity or character

Buenas Aires Lungo

Intensity 30.8%

No cereal, put off

Cape Town Envivo Lungo

Intensity 76.9%

A lot of bitterness, burnt, charcoal, woodiness, spice, earth, intense old school rough around edges big coffee

Caramel Creme Brulee

Obvious fake caramel flavor, no lingering sugar, brain gets pop of sweetness, better than Vanila Eclair

Cocoa Truffle

Awful, tastes off, disservice to coffee and chocolate simultaneously, may need milk, weirdest pod, almost moldy, chocolate is barely chocolate, wrong

Genova

Intensity 46.2%

Unexpectedly bitter and harsh, a bit cereally, not as caramelly as coffee can be

India

Intensity 91.7%

Very bitter, harsh, no acidity, little character, dominant woodiness, not a good representation of Indian coffee at all

Indonesia

Intensity 66.7%

Bit marmite, vegetal, earthy, heavy, muted, 'have an opinion!'

La Cumplida

Intensity 41.7%

Fruit, fermentation, followed by bitterness and harsh roast, starts punchy and sharp and interesting, but finishes cheap, fake strawberry ice cream and badly burnt caramel

Novecento

Intensity 69.2%

Good hit of clean robusta, quintessential Italian espresso caricature

Stockholm Fortissio Lungo

Intensity 61.5%

Roasty roasty then savory at the finish, possibly offensive to Stockholm

Vanilla Eclair

Woody, fake vanilla, not worth scoring, not as good as Caramel Creme Brulee